Macklemore & Ryan Lewis top, J Tim gains on Billboard

Two hip-hop songs emerge as victorious on the Billboard Hot 100 in a rather stale and non-movement week otherwise.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” featuring Wanz shot to number one this week, dethroning Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven” which spent a total of six weeks in the top spot, according to Billboard today. This is the first number one song for the duo, and it only took sixteen weeks to get to this spot. This is a relatively short time for an artist largely unknown in the typical top 40, poppish type songs that always seem to carry the number one spot, and a unique song as well. This is the first time also where a song about a thrift shop is number one. Yes, that is accurate.

Much of the reason why this song has hit number one is it’s gain in digital sales and that it currently sits at number one on streaming songs with 1.68 million in one week. Streaming pretty much means being placed on apps like Spotify and Rhapsody to name a few. This was a problem for Taylor Swift, where her record label refuses to put her song “I Knew You Were Trouble” on streaming. It sits at number five even though it was a huge success in radio and digital sales.

Justin Timberlake, who has had a triumphant return to music after a seven year hiatus, sees his song “Suit & Tie” skyrocket from number 84 last week to number four this week. The song features hip-hop legend Jay-Z and has been met with quite mixed reviews since it’s release. It opened on the digital songs chart with 315,000 copies beating his previous best for “Sexyback” by nearly 100,000 copies. Expect it to linger in the top ten for quite sometime.